


Believer

by Saklani



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 10:08:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28469562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saklani/pseuds/Saklani
Summary: Finn is not convinced that Kylo-Ben has come back to the light.  And he's definitely not sure that he's good for Poe.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: Darkpilot Holiday Exchange





	Believer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oldestcharm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oldestcharm/gifts).



“Anything goes as long as there's a happy ending. Bonus points for an action plot with a dash of humor... Ideally, I would love a childhood friends/former lovers plot from the POV of their friends&/enemies.”

The Millennium Falcon dodged and weaved around blaster fire from an ever-increasing number of Tie fighters, the engines screaming in a way that echoes through the interior. Finn grimly fired the cannon from the rear turret and hoped Rey and Chewbacca could navigate their way out of this mess. 

A pair of Ties bore down on the back of the Falcon, and Finn shouted angrily at them as he tried to take them out before they could further damage their already shaky ship. But even as he did, another ship, a familiar X-Wing came swooping from below them, knocking one out of the sky and sending the other careening off course.

“Poe!” Finn yelled and heard a similar cry from Rey, along with Chewbacca’s defiant roar.

But the act of saving the came with a price, as Poe’s ship, always a target for First Order pilots larger to prove themselves, found itself under siege by three new Ties.

“Rey!” Finn called. “Rey, we’ve got to help him!”

“I see,” she said back, through the Force as much as with her voice, but he could feel her worry. The Falcon was venting plasma and maneuvering her to meet the threat on Poe’s X-Wing would not be easy.

Finn could only grit his teeth and try to provide cover fire, as Poe weaved and dodged and spun and used all of the tricks of his formidable skills to try and get them off his tail. “Rey,” he said again, terrified that all of his friend’s abilities couldn’t save him this time. 

But heroics came again, this time from a very different and still astounding direction. Another, heavily modified, Tie fighter swung in to join the action, blowing the fins off the leading ship after Poe and then joining forces with his X-Wing to blow up the other two.

“You’re in the clear,” a cool, crisp voice said over the comms. “Now get that hunk of junk into hyperspace before it can’t manage it anymore."

“Just when I was about to thank him,” Finn muttered under his breath, but knew it carried across the internal comms when he heard Rey’s snicker, combined with a grumble from Chewbacca. 

“Going into hyperspace now,” Rey called and put the Falcon into the jump, the X-Wing and Tie following close behind.  
~~~~~~~~

“You ever notice how he always watches Poe’s back?” Rey asked Finn later, after they’d brought the Falcon in for a rather bumpy landing on Mive V, location of a small Resistance outpost, far from the eyes of the First Order (or anyone else, for that matter). Their facility hid among the enormous light green grass that covered the majority of the surface, though it made navigating to the landing areas a bit tricky. (Pilots like Rey and Poe seemed to enjoy it.)

Finn made a disgruntled noise and glanced toward Poe’s X-Wing, where his friend worked to repair some damage taken during the battle, joined by a much taller figure. “It’s hard not to notice,” he said.  
“Leia said that they knew each other growing up. They were really close before-“ Rey refused to quail when Finn shot her a dirty look “-Ben-“ she said the name defiantly, as if the man deserved it after all he’d done “-went to train with Luke.”

“That was then,” Finn said. “I don’t see why he sticks so close now.’

“You know he’s trying to make up for what he did as Kylo Ren,” Rey pressed him. “You feel it the same way I do. And outside of Leia and Luke, the person he hurt the most was Poe.”

He twisted his hands in his lap and shot another glance over at Poe and Kylo- Ben. “Poe can’t feel it,” he said.

Rey huffed an impatient laugh at him, making him duck his head a little. “You know that’s not true.” She glanced up as Chewbacca made a bang above them where he and R2-D2 worked on the roof of the Falcon. “Hand me a spanner.” She took the tool from him. “Poe’s not Force-sensitive, but he’s intuitive about people. And he understands Ben better than anyone else. He’s made a choice to be so close to him again, you know.”

“It just doesn’t seem fair,” Finn said, removing a batch of burnt out wiring from the Falcon’s innards and adding them to the growing pile. 

“To who?” Rey asked, replacing the wire with quick, graceful movements of her hands. 

Finn frowned, but didn’t respond, knowing (and disliking) that she was right. He felt left out a bit by Poe since the return of the prodigal son. 

The majority of the Resistance personnel reacted to Kylo Ren’s declaration of regret for his previous dark actions with the dubiousness they deserved. Only Force-sensitives, like Rey, Finn and Leia (who also responded as his mother) knew the depth of his repentance, how much murdering his father and the destruction of the Hosnian system tore at him. Even others who might have reason to believe his declaration, like Chewbacca, recoiled at his presence.

But not Poe. He accepted Kylo-Ben back with an ease that astounded everyone, including Finn. He demanded and received a public apology for being tortured aboard the Finalizer and the opportunity to pilot the stolen, enhanced Tie fighter Kylo-Ben brought back with him, accepted both things when given to him, and promptly went about treating the other man as if he’d merely been gone for a long vacation, instead of serving as the head of the Knights of Ren for the First Order and Supreme Leader Snoke.

It rankled.

“Hey guys,” Poe called out from just behind them, and Finn nearly brained himself on the bottom of the Falcon at the sound. “Need a hand with repairs? We came through the firefight in pretty good shape, thanks to Ben.” He looked over his shoulder and beamed at the hulking shadow a few steps behind him.

Finn felt a confusing rush of feelings from all sides (not to mention his own), when Poe approached with Kylo-Ben. But the overwhelming one was a wave of affection for Poe, pouring off of the former Knight of Ren. And Finn realized instantly, sensing Rey did, too, that Kylo-Ben was not attempting to hide his feelings because he wanted them to feel it. (They must have been projecting their own rather conflicted emotions at him rather loudly.)

Rey smiled at them both, less welcomingly at Kylo-Ben, but nowhere near as unfriendly as Finn (or BB-8) to the former Knight. “We could use both of your help. The Falcon’s a mess. Mind taking a look at the power converters?”

“Sure. Ben and I are familiar with her,” Poe said. “We’ll take good care of her.”

Chewbacca roared down that they’d better, but Poe just waved him off with a laugh. He trotted up the ramp and into the ship.

Kylo-Ben lingered a moment, dark gaze on both Rey and Finn. “I won’t hurt him,” he said slowly.

“We know, Ben,” Rey assured him quietly.

“I don’t know that,” Finn said. “You’ve hurt him before. You tore apart his mind!”

Kylo-Ben winced in a way that could be felt, though his face only briefly crumpled in response. “I won’t hurt him again,” he clarified. 

“You best not,” Rey agreed. “I don’t know that even your mother could give you a third chance, Ben.”

He nodded and gave Finn a second glance, before following Poe up the ramp to the Falcon’s interior. 

Finn watched him all the way inside and then just kept staring, until Rey elbowed him. He grunted and returned to helping her with the battered ship.  
~~~~~~~~

Dark fell late on Mive V, so when the call for dinner in the small Mess Hall came, the sun still shone brightly through the dark blue-green sky. Rey, Finn and Chebacca put down their tools instantly and headed gratefully for their chow. They all dove in with such fervor that it took Finn some time to notice that Poe and Kylo-Ben had not joined them.

“Do you think they missed the bell?” Finn asked Rey, body already turned toward the Falcon. 

Rey made an unintelligible noise around a mouthful of chow, while Chewbacca didn’t even pause in his own eating.

“I think I’ll go make sure Poe doesn’t miss dinner,” Finn said and scrambled up and off the for the exit before Rey could indicate that she didn’t think that was a wise idea.

He trotted through the warm evening air, glad for a place that wasn’t freezing, and headed up the Falcon’s ramp without worrying about anything other than making sure his friend got his dinner. That ended two steps inside when he heard someone (Poe) groan accompanied by the bang of metal.

Forcing himself not to charge into potential danger, Finn crept forward, hand at his blaster, ready to take on Kylo if he had already broken his promise not to hurt Poe. He peered around a corner into the Repair Bay to check on the pair and froze in place, eyes near bulging from his head.

Kylo-Ben had made the thumping noise, which he repeated now by banging his fist into the wall next to Poe’s head. But the gesture was not one of violence. It signaled the exact opposite.

Poe’s legs were tight around the narrow waist of his friend-turned-enemy-turned-lover(?), back arched as Kylo-Ben drove into him with powerful, constant strokes. His hands were tangled in dark, long hair, while the one of Kylo-Ben’s not beating against the side of the ship cradled Poe’s curls in a way that even Finn had to admit was tender. And the way Poe began to cry out with each thrust, they certainly were not aimed at hurting him.

But most tellingly, Finn could hear Ky…Ben talking to Poe in a husky, devoted tone. “Want this to be good for you, Poe. Wanted this so badly. You’re so good for me. Good to me. Can’t believe you’re here. Need you so much.” Finn knew that the tall man was almost unaware of the words he was speaking, simply emptying out his heart in an instinctive, necessary way.

The realization that he was intruding and horribly so, dawned swift and terrible. He didn’t want to think of what either man might do if they caught him gawking at them having sex (though to be fair, they were in a public location on the ship). Still, he beat a hasty retreat to rejoin the others in the Mess.

“Aren’t they coming?” Rey asked him innocently as he sat down again, making him choke on a giggle. She stared at him a moment, eyes narrow, as he fought to control himself.

“Uh, maybe later?” he finally choked out when he thought he wouldn’t lose control of himself.

“Okay,” Rey said, still eyeing him.

Finn shoveled in several mouthfuls of cool food and let several moments go by in silence. Finally, he said, “But uh, I think you’re right, Rey.”

She lifted her head from her plate again to give him a questioning look. “About what?”

He ran a hand through his hair and gave a nervous giggle. “I don’t think that Ben wants to hurt Poe anymore.”


End file.
